Tensions were running high at the Karnataka-Maharashtra border yet again on Monday as hundreds of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders staged protests at Kognoli Toll Plaza, leading to the imposition of Section 144 of the CrPc.
According to reports, over 300 leaders of the NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress were stopped at the border and sent back by Karnataka, while some were even detained.
The workers took up the protests over the inter-state border issue against Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai after the police refused permission for MES to hold Maha Melav in the contested region of Belagavi.
The MES, a political outfit that is fighting for the merger of Belagavi city into Maharashtra, had planned massive protests ahead of the winter session of the Karnataka Assembly.
The workers had also started an online campaign on social media, giving calls to Marathi people to attend the Maha Melav. They had also started the 'Vaccine Depot Chalo' campaign.
ADGP (Law and Order) Alok Kumar stated that no meetings and programmes will be held in the area due to the curfew. "If someone tries to arrange a meeting, they will be taken into custody," he warned.
The police also vacated the stage erected by the MES at the Vaccine Depot area. About 5,000 police personnel, 6 SP's, 11 ASP's, 40 DySP's, 106 CPI's, 16 platoons of City Armed Reserve (CAR), 35 platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and 10 Quick Response Teams (QRT) were deployed in Belagavi.
Centre's intervention
This comes days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting with Maharashtra and Karnataka CMs and said that both sides had agreed to resolve the issue in a constitutional manner.
The meeting, attended by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, his Karnataka counterpart Basavraj Bommai, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, lasted for more than an hour.
"We have held a positive discussion on the ongoing border disputes between Maharashtra and Karnataka. Both sides have kept a positive attitude and it was unanimously decided that border disputes cannot be resolved on roads and can be only done through constitutional methods," said Shah.
"In order to address the issue, a committee of 6 ministers, three each from both states will hold detailed talks to resolve the issue. Apart from that in order to ensure law and order at all costs, a committee under a senior IPS official will be formed," he added.
Following this, Shinde stated that Maharashtra will soon set up a committee of ministers to study and take measures to resolve the long-pending boundary row.
Assuring that the state government is standing behind the Marathi people in the disputed border areas, he assured that steps will be taken to solve their grievances and problems.
Currently, Belagavi is in Karnataka but claimed by Maharashtra as it has a large proportion of the Marathi-speaking population. Karnataka maintains that the dispute was settled by the Mahajan Committee.
